Dolphins offense feasted in red zone on third day of minicamp
The Miami Dolphins offense continued to heat up in the final practice of this week’s mandatory minicamp, delivering an efficient red zone day that was highlighted by Malik Willis performing a Stomp The Yard style head stand to celebrate one of the touchdown passes he threw Thursday.
On a day that all of Miami’s 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 snaps took place inside the 20-yard line, simulating red zone work in a game, Malik Washington caught a touchdown pass on the left side of the end zone after Willis scrambled to his left to evade pressure from edge rusher David Ojabo before zipping the ball to Washington, who was tightly covered.
The throw was a showcase of Willis’ strong arm, and quick release, which has been on display all camp.
Thursday was the third straight respectable practice the Dolphins offense delivered in front of the media, and Willis clearly wanted to celebrate, so he joined his offensive players with the head stand executed in the end zone as Miami’s defenders stood around in frustration.
The day wasn’t filled with rapid fire touchdowns, but the defense struggled to get stops, and failed to produce a turnover for the second straight practice.
“We got a lot of new faces. Everybody is getting on the same page, knowing what they are doing. You can see the confidence grow,” offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said after Thursday’s session. “The big thing for us is that this time of year is all about the individual. The fundamentals. The technique of what we’re doing, and trying to see [what happens] when you put a defense across from you. We can’t even get there if we don’t know what we’re doing.
“It has helped that we’ve chilled out [on the installs] and just let them go work,” Slowik said. “We’ve seen a lot of improvement across the board, but we have a long way to go.”
Theo Wease caught Willis’ first touchdown pass of the day during the team’s 11-on-11 work, pulling in a pass Willis bulleted into the right side of the end zone.
And in his final 11-on-11 series, tight end Greg Dulcich caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Willis, who threw the ball right before the pocket collapsed since a defender put offensive tackle Kion Smith on his backside. Willis got the ball off right before the pressure would have arrived, avoiding a would-be sack.
But Willis wasn’t the only quarterback feasting on Miami’s defense during Thursday’s red zone day.
Quinn Ewers, who is the frontrunner to be Willis’ backup, threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Terrace Marshall Jr..
However, one of his possessions ended without a score because cornerback Ethan Robinson stopped A.J. Henning from breaking into the end zone on a third down throw.
Ewers also scrambled 12 yards for a rushing touchdown, but media members felt the pressure would have produced a sack on the play, which was ruled a touchdown by the referees on the field.
And rookie tight end Seydou Traore caught an impressive touchdown pass from Cam Miller, who was the third quarterback who handled all the snaps this week while Mark Gronowski, an undrafted rookie, watched the 11-on-11 periods.
Miami’s defense did make a couple of solid plays on Thursday.
Linebacker Ronnie Harrison Jr. broke up an end zone pass to Ben Sims.....
Cornerback J.J. Brents stopped a Willis scramble off play action by stopping him at the line of scrimmage.....
Jaylen Wright delivered a 5 yard carry on a right side run after evading Dante Trader Jr. blitz......
Jason Marshall Jr. delivered a solid stop on an Ollie Gordon II right side run that was good for a short gain.....
Tailback Carlos Washington Jr. had a solid 6 yard inside run.....
Willie Gay Jr. produced a tackle for loss on tailback Anthony Hankerson, who slipped in the backfield. But even if he hadn’t fallen down Gay was going to tattoo him.....
Rookie safety Louis Moore had a deflection of a Cam Miller pass. However, in the final 11-on-11 period Moore was flagged for pass interference on a throw intended for Ben Sims.
This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 12:55 PM.
